Officials: EU Considering Mending Ties With Assad

Focus on ISIS May Lead to Rapprochement

Top European Union foreign affairs officials, including the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committeee Elmar Brok, say that the EU is now debating a shift in their policy toward the Assad government in Syria.

Brok was light on details, but said the EU is more interested in fighting against ISIS and is moving in the direction of engaging with Assad in doing that. The EU largely split with Assad early in the civil war, halting oil imports from Syria.

What Brok said next was the most telling part of this shift, urging Hezbollah, a close ally of the Assad government, to “foster a climate of political unity.” The EU currently has Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations.

With many in the EU, particularly Italy, currently panicking about the growth of ISIS across the region, it seems more and more likely that they will rethink their hostility toward the Assad government, which is fighting ISIS on the ground in Syria.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.